


Protecting the Pack

by kristsune



Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Relationships, M/M, Multi, au where everyone lives except for bertie, but description of wound, for his partners and his pack, grizzop cares so much, no major descriptions of violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:08:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23531353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kristsune/pseuds/kristsune
Summary: The party gets ambushed, luckily Zolf and Grizzop are on watch.
Relationships: Zolf Smith/Grizzop drik Acht Amsterdam, Zolf Smith/Grizzop drik Acht Amsterdam/Oscar Wilde
Comments: 12
Kudos: 64





	Protecting the Pack

**Author's Note:**

> Listen, the Wilde discord is wildly (ha!) inspiring, and throws ideas at you. And lets just say, what the discord wants, the discord gets.

Grizzop twitched his ear to the left at the sound of footsteps. Just because he had darkvision didn’t mean he wanted to give himself away with more movement than he had to. Turned out not to matter anyway, because his hearing confirmed that said footsteps were just Zolf. To be fair, he was quieter than one would expect for someone of his size, but whatever combination of metal and magic that made up his legs gave him away, at least to Grizzop, who knew what to listen for. 

“Wotcher.” Grizzop greeted him quietly. Zolf nodded back silently. “Your watch doesn't start for another hour, you good?”

“Yeah. Couldn't sleep is all.” 

Grizzop squinted at Zolf, whose eyes were haunted. Nightmares most likely. Zolf didn’t seem to get them too often, and was good at hiding them, but Grizzop could recognize a strangled gasp, and the strain to keep quiet upon waking. He decided to leave it alone for now, but as soon as they finished this mission, Grizzop was going to sit him down, and have a conversation with him about it. He did  _ not _ need another Wilde on his hands. One was bloody well enough.

Zolf leaned against the large rock Grizzop was perched on, starting his watch early. Grizzop appreciated that he didn’t ask if he would like to leave early, because he already knew that he wouldn’t, not until his watch was over. Besides, giving Zolf a little company might not be the worst thing at the moment anyway. There was something to be said for the quiet companionship between friends, partners… whatever word they were using at this juncture. 

The rest of the group - Sasha, Azu, Cel, and Hamid - were all curled together under the copse of trees they found as their shelter for the night. Sasha had insisted on doing the recon on the spot herself, and deemed it safe, protecting their back, but still giving them enough room to fight if needed. Grizzop, and now Zolf, were a little ways up the mostly hidden path, still within eyesight of the camp, but far enough away to be able to keep an eye out for danger. 

They were on their way back to their headquarters, where Wilde was waiting for them. Hopefully with the next piece of the puzzle they’ll need to finish this mission. It would be nice to have a break for awhile. Well, for Grizzop, a break meant going for a hunt - hopefully with Vesseek, if they were around. It had been too long since they got to be together, just them, the woods and the hunt. 

Grizzop’s ear flicked at soft sounds to his right: leaves being crushed, a small twig snapping, and a sword being carefully unsheathed. He turned slightly to Zolf who looked back at him with a grim expression, and nodded silently. Zolf made a trilling whistle that sounded so much like a nightjar, Grizzop was a little more impressed every time he heard it. 

There was no answering reply, but neither of them expected there to be one. Sasha - the lightest sleeper - would have heard it, and quietly roused the others. Meanwhile Zolf and Grizzop both looked out to see at least a dozen or so humanoid figures weaving through the trees towards them, and the rest of the party. Grizzop could feel the subvocal growl building in his throat. How  _ dare _ they come after him, after  _ his _ pack. 

His bow was already in hand, and he easily targeted one of the shapes a little further away, making sure to not immediately give away his and Zolf’s position. He nodded to Zolf before letting the arrow fly, and everything delved into chaos. The last thing Grizzop could fully remember was running into the melee side by side with Zolf, and as he prayed for Holy Fire, his bow ignited at the same time as Zolf’s glaive lit ablaze. 

Currently the fighting was over, and Grizzop was checking over the corpses near him (seemed to be a travelling group of unaffiliated Lads and/or Blokes) to make sure they were  _ really _ dead, and putting arrows through the ones that still might be twitching. Sasha was collecting the daggers she had thrown, and nicking any new ones she found on the bodies that were good enough for her collection. Azu was healing Cel - minor wound, arrow (not his) grazed their side - and Hamid was with them for moral support. 

Grizzop did a full body, three-sixty turn. Where the  _ fuck _ was Zolf?

“Zolf?!” He turned to the others, “Have any of you seen Zolf?”

Sasha and Hamid were both facing him, and the way their expressions dropped told Grizzop everything he needed to know. He swore extensively in Dutch as he immediately started looking for him among the fallen. Hamid and Sasha helped with the search, with Azu joining after she was done with helping Cel. 

Grizzop found him in what he  _ knew _ to be minutes, but felt like  _ hours _ . He shoved off the corpse that had been half on top of him before gently rolling him onto his back and checking for a pulse. He breathed out a heavy sigh of relief when he felt the weak, but very much there, pulse. Oscar would never forgive him if he failed to bring their partner back home.

He quickly found the major offending wound, a nasty, deep puncture from a spear that managed to get through his chainmail. Grizzop rubbed his hands together, and prayed to Artemis before laying on hands to heal him. He actually felt like he could breathe again when Zolf took a deep breath in, and opened his eyes.

“Don’t fucking do that again, you hear?” Grizzop knew Zolf could hear the slight tremor in his voice, but instead of pointing it out, he just smiled and reached his hand to Grizzop’s cheek, which Grizzop instinctively leaned into. 

“Thanks.” 

Grizzop found he couldn’t answer, so instead just tightened his grip where his hands were still pressed against Zolf’s chest.

“Hey, Grizz, ya find ‘em?” Sasha called out from a few feet away. Without dark vision, it would be difficult to see them.

Zolf cut in, “Yeah, I’ll be fine.” He grunted as Grizzop helped him back onto his feet to head back to their camp. Sasha offered to take the last watch, which Grizzop was grateful for, and he knew she understood with the knowing nod she gave him as she walked by. He sat down, and laid Zolf’s head in his lap. Normally Zolf wasn’t one to be coddled, and Grizzop wasn’t one to coddle, but they both understood this was as much for Grizzop as it was him. Grizzop understood they were in a dangerous profession, and any of them could die at any time, but he was determined to not let that happen to him, to  _ any _ of them, if he could help it.   
  
He looked up briefly at Azu curling protectively around Cel and Hamid, and smiled despite himself, knowing the pack was safe. He looked back down at Zolf with one hand on his temple, thumb brushing through his short white hair, while Zolf reached up and took his other hand in his own. They stayed like that for the last couple hours til dawn. Grizzop helping keep watch over what was his. His partner, his  _ family. _

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to come by and visit me on [tumblr](https://kristsune.tumblr.com/) and [twitter!](https://twitter.com/Kristsune)


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